Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Animals

Author ORCID Identifier

Gabriel Andrés Ortíz-Domínguez https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4067-0282

Pedro Geraldo González-Pech https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7916-1832

Juan Felipe de Jesús Torres-Acosta https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3724-3391

Javier Ventura-Cordero https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9629-1214

Carlos Alfredo Sandoval-Castro https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2778-8240

Volume

14

Issue

4

Publisher

MDPI AG

Publication Date

2-12-2024

Journal Article Version

Version of Record

First Page

1

Last Page

13

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

We evaluated the relationship between individual and herd GIN infection level, nutrition, production performance and anemia parameters in a tropical farm context. Fifty-four female goats were monitored to assess their body condition score (BCS, nutritional status indicator), live weight (LW) and LW gain (LWG, both used as production level indicators), FAMACHA© and hematocrit (HT, both used as anemia indicators). Goats browsed for 4 h in a tropical forest and received balanced feed and chopped grass. The eggs per gram of feces (EPG) indicated the GIN burden, with fecal samples obtained at 7:00 (AM) and 15:00 h (PM.) from each goat at six sampling points during the study. The variables and their relationship with GIN burdens were analyzed using Kruskall–Wallis, ANOVA and Friedman tests and Spearman correlations. The fecal samples obtained in the AM and PM can be equally representative of parasitic burdens (similar and highly correlated). However, the EPG of individual goats from periods of 30 days apart can be considered independent. The BCS and LWG varied between sampling times (p < 0.05), whereas EPG, LW and HT did not (p > 0.05). The GIN burden was negatively correlated with HT and BCS (−0.21, p = 0.01 for each one). The individual pattern of infection demonstrates the true impact of GINs on their hosts. Additionally, feeding and nutritional status may present important variations influencing the performance of the goats more than the impact of GINs under the farm conditions of the present study. However, GIN infection contributed to the variation in goat health and productivity in this tropical farm.

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